Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #12

Game: July 14, 2013

Buzzards stumble late against Dodgers in loss, 17-9

After the July 4th holiday weekend off and a two week break to heal-up, the 55+ division Ol' Buzzards gathered at C-Bar-C Park for a 10 o'clock game against the younger 45+ division Dodgers. The Dodgers (9-2) have the best record in the 45+/55+ combined divisions. Their only losses were to the Miners in April and to the Buzzards in May (7-4 at James on May 5th).

On a nice Sunday morning in Citrus Heights, the Dodgers sent their hard throwing southpaw, Phil 'Captain' Morgan #11 to the mound. The home team Buzzards started the game with their harder throwing righty, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz #26 on the hill.

The Buzzards struck first with a run in the top of the third inning. After fouling off a bunch of pitches, Norm 'Burner' Tucker straightened one out for a nice line-drive single to left-field on a full-count pitch. After a fielder's choice play, Paul 'Youngin' Lee was the runner at first. Next, Steve 'Cookie' Cook got an infield single putting runners at second and first. Later with two outs, Welzy knocked the first pitch sharply to left-field to score Youngin' with a single.

The good hittin' Dodgers (18 hits in the game) scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning. The first five batters got on base and they quickly put up the runs. The sequence was: infield error (tough hops all day), single, hit-by-pitch (on a 1-2 count) Sean #38 leaned into two pitches during the game to get on base each time over Buzzard protests, then a two-run double hit way over the left fielder's head, followed by a bloop single to short left-field near the line for a run, then a grounder to the right-side for a 4-3 put-out while the fourth run scored. After four, the score was 4-1 Dodgers.

In the fifth dig, the Buzzards put six runs in the scorebook to take a 7-4 lead. With one out, Mike 'Big Mac' McCabe hit a deep drive to left-center for a single. Mike was replaced at first base by Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray to run. Burner then walked on five pitches. After another out, Cookie was also walked on five pitches to load 'em up. Batting next, Jim 'Kuchie' Kuchar took a full-count walk to score the Baron. Up next and after fouling off several pitches, Welzy launched a blast to deep left-field for a bases clearing triple scoring Burner, Cookie and hustling all the way from first base, the oldest Buzzard, Kuchie.

Next, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir took a base on balls before Dave 'Evy' Everingham smashed a deep double to left-center to score Welz easily from third and sent Wookie around the bases from first to score the final run of the inning on a close play. The Dodgers then changed pitchers and brought in the big right-hander Sean 'Leaner' Harrigan #38 from third base. Harrigan then threw puff pitches (slower than batting practice) and an occasional fast-ball to keep the swinging Buzzards off-balance the remainder of the game.

The Dodgers scored one run in the sixth and two in the seventh to tie the game 7-7. A key point in the seventh inning was Sean leaning into a full-count pitch for a pass to first base and that allowed the next batter, their shortstop with the Sacramento Dodgers jersey, Oscar Arriaga #6, who was five-for-five with six RBIs, to get to the plate and get a key hit for the runs. Entering the eighth inning, the Buzzards said good-bye to Evy, Baron and Welzy as they left for a Pirates' game in Elk Grove. The few game conflicts the NABA 55+ Buzzards and MSBL 40+ Pirates have had this season have not really hurt the Buzzards, until this game. The changes necessary to the defense and line-up just did not work-out, as well as planned. Losing top-notch talent did not help either.

The Dodgers got some breaks on seeing-eye grounders up-the-middle and some sloppy defensive play that contributed to a long inning and lots of pitches. The hot sun must have been heating up poor Buzzard brains as they reacted slowly to an easy pickle play between third and home (blowing it) and a potential double-play later, plus other plays were not handle as crisply as the Buzzards' fans are used to seeing.

Offensively the second Dodger pitcher, Leaner Harrigan (4 1/3 innings), held the Buzzards down until the last inning. The frustratingly slow pitches were almost crushed with the big swings, but missed by micro-millimeters and became high pop-ups (five), one long fly ball out, worm killing grounders (six) and a strike-out. Ouch.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Buzzards got a rally going and scored two runs and it looked good for a lot more, but the Dodger defense made some good plays to end the rally too quickly. Barry 'Crush' Forman led-off the last inning by getting on base via a funny looking E-4 by the Dodgers' manager Vince Miles #42, when he kicked the grounder from one foot to the other while trying to field the ball. With one out, Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny drew a seven-pitch walk after fouling off tough pitches. Up next, Big Mac hit a nice deep drive to left-center field for a base hit to score Barry from second base and moved Surf Dawg to that same bag. Kelly 'KG' Garcia ran for Mike. After the second out, Youngin hit a flare to right-field for a single putting Buzzards at the corners. Cookie slapped a single to center-field to score the Surf Dawg for the last run. The final score was a brutal 17-9.

The Buzzards can't forget that the disappointing loss was to a very good Dodger team. The Dodger pitching and defense had given up over nine runs only once this season - in their loss to the Miners (10-8). It was nice to beat the 45+ Dodgers in May in a come-backer 7-4 in Auburn. But thankfully, we will not see them again this season.

The Buzzard pitching was good enough to win this game. Taylor pitched five strong innings and left the bump with a lead. Welzy threw 64 pitches (45 strikes & 19 balls) in facing 21 Dodgers. T-Welz gave up four runs on four hits, one walk and one hit batter with four strike-outs. Everingham threw the next two innings before departing. Evy faced 12 batters and tossed 43 pitches (24 strikes & 19 balls) and gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits, two walks and a hit batter with three K's.

Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri #7 took the mound in the eighth after catching the first five frames. Not to belabor the nightmarish eighth inning, but as an example of how a game can go when things aren't going your way with the hops, throws and calls. Salmo was the recipient of, in sequence: after a walk, an infield error on a smash down the third base line, grounder up-the-middle just out of reach of the middle infielders for a run, a short infield pop-up that landed behind the mound then kicked-off of Salmo's leg preventing an easy out and potential double-play, another seemingly slow-motion grounder going up-the-middle just out of reach again of three gloves for two runs, then a soft flare hit to right-field scored a run, and then finally the first out of the inning was a nice catch of a sky high infield pop-up by Surf Dawg. Then, a hard sinking liner by Oscar to left-field that squirted by the sliding Barry for a double to score two more runs. An infield force-out at second was sloppy preventing a potential double-play. Then another looping single just out of reach to short center drove in the last run before a fly-out to Crush in left-field ended the 33-pitch misery.

The Dodgers scored three more in their half of the ninth inning with a lead-off bunt(?) single, a fielder's choice out at second, then a double down the left-field line scored a run, a walk, a seven-pitch single by Leaner to left-field for a run followed, then Oscar blasted a deep drive to right-center that Kelly, playing center-field, got a good jump on the ball and ran a long way before jumping and twisting to just miss the back-hander off the glove before crash landing. A quick recovery by KG held the hit to a long single and one run, then one last short looper followed for one last run. Salmo then struck-out the last batter, loud-mouthed Dr. Antonio 'Swing' Servin #29 with the 30th pitch of the inning.

Rick faced 20 batters and threw 63 pitches (40 strikes & 23 balls) in two long innings. The Dodgers scored 10 runs on 10 hits and two walks with one strike-out.

The Buzzard offense of 11 hits and six walks scored nine runs on a tough Dodger team that committed just one error and had strong arms with good team speed on the field. The Buzzard hit club for the game included: Big Mac-2, Burner-1, Cookie-2, Evy-2, Salmo-1, Welzy-2 and Youngin-1. The Buzzards getting on base via a base-on-balls were (in order): Evy, Burner, Cookie, Kuch, Wookie and Surf Dawg. The always important ribbies were courtesy of: Big Mac-1, Cookie-1, Evy-2, Kuchie-1 and clutch Welzy with four.

The game was frustrating 'cause it did not go the Buzzard's way too often. From plays like in the long eighth inning - where a forced-out Dodger at second base continued on to third base (their dug-out is by first base) and confused the infield to call out a wrong base and halt a throw for a potential easy out while multiple runners were on the base paths and moving on the play. A long and loud, vehement protest by a highly ticked-off skipper made the umpires huddle for quite a while, but they eventually said it was not against the rules, just bush league antics. Or the phantom tag of Evy at third base in a rally killing call in the fourth frame. And we won't get into the lousy K-zone. Anyway, no one got hurt and some players like Tom 'TK' Keatley got to coach a lot, while his leg heals-up a little more. The one late at-bat looked good and the run to first felt good to TK, which is a good sign for the Ol' and getting older Buzzards.

The highlight of the afternoon was the lunch at Felipe's after the game. At 50% off, those Ol' Buzzards can put away large quantities of that great Felipe's Mexican food with lots of cervezas and some iced teas. Dean Perkins surprised the Gold Country gang and joined the group for lunch and tales of the game. Deano showed off the stitches on his left arm while describing getting screwed literally by Kaiser in reattaching the bicep tendon back to the bone - before the food arrived. With a three-month recovery time, Deano has swung his last bat for the season. Hopefully, coach Deano can appear at future games. Thanks for the info and the surprise visit.

Skinny and sleeveless, Barry was quickly freezing! with the restaurant fans going, so Paul nicely, but with some protest, made sure the fan above cold Crush stayed off. This, of course, just reinforces once again Forman's Formal Filosophy - It's all about Barry. Most Buzzards (that are not Pirates) made the lunch with the addition of two cute blonde wives - Sherri and Diane. The stuffed Ol' Buzzards rolled out of Felipe's happy and carrying left-over's home. Thanks Paul for the excellent food and a great team gathering.

Buzzard Note #1: Salmo is getting used to catching and bought his own cool looking gear during the holiday break. The black and orange design is a fabulous Buzzard look and would make even Buster Posey jealous of the sharp appearance. It is true - you look marvelous, you feel marvelous, and you play marvelous.

Buzzard Note #2: The Buzzards are home for the next two weeks with 2 pm games at James Field. The next game, July 21st, is another toughie against the 55+ first place Reds.

Buzzard Note #3: The live radio broadcast on the 950 AM airwaves of KAHI and their world-wide reach via internet streaming on kahi.com is coming on August 11th. The game time is 2 o'clock at James Field versus the Miners. BBQ after the game for family and friends of both teams and the radio announcer, Dave Rosenthal.